Eilley
Bowers is one of the most researched, written and talked
about women in Nevada history. From the days of living in
her mansion in Washoe Valley as a millionaire mine owner,
to her final days as a poor fortuneteller living alone in
the Kings Daughters Home in Oakland, CA, she was a
continual subject of news reports and writers who sometimes
wrote tales of her long, eventful life. In the years since
the Reno Womens Civic Club helped the city of Reno
purchase her mansion in Washoe Valley, researchers have
tried to uncover the facts of her life. The following is
the result of years of in-depth research used to distinguish
the difference between truth and fiction.

Alison
(Eilley) Oram was born on Septrmber 6, 1826 in the Royal
Burgh of Forfar, Scotland, located in the eastern Scottish
countryside. At the young age of fifteen, she married nineteen-year-
old Stephen Hunter of Fishcross, Clackmannan, Scotland.
After six years of marriage, Stephen converted to the relatively
new religion of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints.

In
January 1849, the Hunters decided to move to America and
the new Mormon city in the Great Salt Lake Valley. Brigham
Young had built this city for his followers just two years
earlier. The Hunters emigrated to America by ship from Liverpool,
England to New Orleans, then by steamer to Council Bluffs,
Iowa, where they joined a wagon train and walked the rest
of the way to the Great Salt Lake City. Soon after they
arrived, the two were divorced for unknown reasons.

Three
years later in 1853, Eilley married another Mormon, Alexander
Cowan. Alexander was also from Scotland and was a devout
Mormon willing to do anything for the church. In the fall
of 1855, Alexander was called on a mission to the western
most edge of Utah Territory. Today this is Genoa, Nevada,
but then it was the small settlement of Mormon Station in
Carson County, Utah Territory. Most women stayed in Salt
Lake City when their husbands went off to settle a new community,
but Eilley chose to go with her husband and his 12-year-old-nephew
Robert Henderson, who had recently been orphaned.

When
their first winter approached, most of the Mormons returned
to Salt Lake City, but Alexander and Eilley stayed in the
small settlement. The following spring, Orson Hyde, the
Mormon leader, decided to move the Mormons to Washoe Valley.
Since the Cowans stayed behind for the winter, they were
among the first to arrive in the Valley. Alexander was able
to purchase 320 acres of good farming land complete with
a small house and corral.

A
little over one year later, the U.S. government was having
problems with the Mormon church which brought about the
possibility of war between the church and the United States.
In order to save his empire, Brigham Young called back all
the Mormons who had been sent out to settle small communities
like the one in Washoe Valley. In the fall of 1857, Alexander
was faithful to the church and agreed to return to the Great
Salt Lake City. Eilley and Robert chose to stay behind.
After the problems with the government and Utah were over,
Alexander returned to Eilley for a short time, but he soon
went back to Salt Lake City alone.

When
the settlement of Franktown was abandoned by the Mormons,
Eilley and Robert moved to the small mining camp of Johntown
(today it is below Silver City). The camp housed around
180 miners who were searching the surrounding streams for
gold. Eilley built a small boarding house which became a
welcome addition to the rustic camp. Eilley and her nephew
lived in this camp until the spring of 1859 when gold was
discovered on a nearby hill, and the town of Gold Hill was
born.

Eilley
and Robert quickly moved to Gold Hill and built a new boarding
house. Eilley began to take advantage of the situation by
claiming several plots of mining land. One of her claims
lay right next to a claim owned by Lemuel Sanford (Sandy)
Bowers. That August, Sandy and Eilley adjoined their claims
and their lives when they were married. Soon Gold Hill and
the new town of Virginia City were exciting and populated
mining towns producing the most concentrated amount of silver
in the United States. The Bowers were among the first millionaires
of the Comstock Lode, and over the next two years, Eilley
gave birth to two children. Unfortunately both died as infants.

Despite
their losses, they were rich and had begun the construction
of a mansion in Washoe Valley on the land that Eilley had
acquired from Alexander in their divorce settlement. While
their mansion was under construction, the two went on a
grand European excursion. They were gone for ten months,
and while there, Eilley was able to return to her home in
Scotland to visit her family. When they returned to Nevada,
they had a baby girl with them whom they had adopted during
their trip. For unknown
reasons, Eilley did not want the details of the adoption
to become public knowledge, so we will never know the truth
of young Margaret Persias birth. The Bowers spent
the next couple of years living in their mansion and spending
their seemingly endless fortune. Even though the Civil War
was continuing to rage in the east, the Bowers and the other
residents of the new Nevada Territory were continuing to
enjoy their riches. In October 1864, Nevada became a state
followed by President Lincolns reelection. Five months
later the war ended, Lincoln was assassinated, and the mines
of Nevada were beginning to play out. The Bowers were slowly
losing the riches they had come to know. Sandy moved back
to Gold Hill to try to save the Bowers mine, but nothing
seemed to work. In early 1868, he tried to sell part of
their mine, but he never saw a transaction before dying
of silicosis that April.

Eilley
took over the business matters of the mine with the help
of George Waters, but the ore was gone and her financial
situation was not good. Rather than give up, Eilley returned
to her earlier role of boardinghouse keeper by turning her
mansion into a resort. Nighttime parties and summer picnics
became a way of life for Mrs. Bowers.

In
1870, she was forced to sell the mine to George Waters due
to her financial problems, ending her career as a mine owner.
In 1873, a new silver strike created a second boom for the
Comstock Lode. This strike was called the Big Bonanza and
brought new life to Virginia City and Nevada. With an increase
in employment and money, the people of Virginia City and
the surrounding communities found the need to celebrate,
and Bowers Mansion seemed to be the most likely place to
party. Afternoon picnics were commonly held during the summer
months. The Miners Union, Knights of Pythias, the Pioneers,
and many other organizations often sponsored large picnics.
Thousands of local residents rode trains, brought their
wagons and even walked to these grand affairs. Eilley was
always considered the gracious hostess, but this did not
help her financial situation.

At
one point, she tried to raffle the mansion, but it had to
be withdrawn since not enough tickets were sold to make
the venture feasible. She built on a third story to the
mansion to bring in more boarders, but this only increased
her debt. Things were not going well for Eilley, but the
picnics still continued. During this time, twelve-year-
old Persia was sent to Reno to live and go to school. It
is believed that this was to keep her from the party atmosphere
surrounding the mansion. When there was a break between
parties, Persia often came home for a visit. In July, 1874,
just such a visit occurred. At the end of her time in the
mansion, Eilley accompanied Persia to Reno, but she could
not stay long since she had to host another picnic that
Sunday. After the picnic, Eilley was told to return to Reno.
By the time she arrived, it was too late. Persia had died
of a ruptured appendix. She was then buried on the hillside
behind the mansion next to her father. After the loss of
her daughter, Eilley had to continue on. Three weeks later
she hosted a picnic for all the Sunday School children from
the surrounding towns.

After
the death of three children and her husband, the loss of
her mine and her money, and with the approaching loss of
her mansion, she began to turn to her spirit friends for
support. Eilley had been known to have a crystal ball from
as early as her days in Johntown, but her fortune telling
seemed to be more for fun than anything else. Now it was
becoming a way of life.

In
1876 she finally lost the mansion when it was sold at public
auction. Myron C. Lake, the new owner, allowed her to stay
in the mansion that summer, but then she was forced to move.
She had a small house in Franktown near her mansion, but
she often stayed in Virginia City and Reno telling fortunes
for money. Eilley had become a wanderer and professional
seeress. She continued to live this life until 1882 when
she suddenly disappeared from Nevada. She was later found
living and working in San Francisco. In 1884 she returned
to Reno for a short time and continued to tell fortunes,
but she soon returned to San Francisco.

By
the turn of the century, Eilley was financially destitute
and was showing signs of senility. She was in her mid-seventies
and had lived to see most of her friends die many years
prior. Eilley began writing letters to everyone she knew
trying to get their support in her effort to get money from
the government. In the days before Nevada was a state, Sandy
Bowers is believed to have given the government $14,000
to help fight the Indians in the Paiute Indian war of 1860.
Eilley only wanted a little back to help pay for her final
days and a decent burial. The money never came.

Eilley
made one final return to Reno in the summer of 1901 and
was put away in the county poor house. During her stay,
she proved to be very troublesome for the caregivers, so
the county commissioners tried to figure out what to do
with her. They finally agreed that they could not help her,
so they bought her a ticket on a train to San Francisco
and bid her farewell. A local lawyer was able to gather
together about $30 in donations to help send her on her
way.

Eilley
returned to San Francisco and later went to Oakland where
she took up residency in the Kings Daughters Home.
Eilley Oram Bowers died alone on October 27, 1903 at the
age of seventy-seven. With the help of Henry Riter, the
new owner of Bowers Mansion, Eilleys ashes were returned
to Nevada and were buried behind the mansion with her husband
Sandy and daughter Persia.

In
1946 her mansion was purchased by Washoe County with the
help of the Reno Womens Civic Club and public donations.
It is now a county park with a swimming pool, picnic grounds
and tours through the mansion itself during the summer season.
Within the mansion walls, Eilleys story will continue
to live on.

The
research on Eilley, her family and the mansion is still ongoing
since many mysteries still remain. Several people associated
with the family have long since died and their descendants have
yet to be found. The descendants of people like Robert, James
and Elizabath Henderson, Harry and Al Livingston, Danial Neileigh,
Henrietta (Hettie) Dettenreider Baker and Joseph A. Conboie
might be able to help us solve some of the mysteries that still
surround the mansion. If you feel you might be a descendent
or if you have some information, please respond by writing Betty
Hood at 4005 Old Highway 395, Washoe Valley, NV 89704 or by
contacting Tamera Buzick by e-mail.